Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp

Rejected by the Cubists for appearing too Futurist, this proto-Dadaist painting applies a machine aesthetic to the human form, anticipating the dynamism of Kinetic Art that led to electronic art. Duchamp called this series of paintings “an organization of kinetic elements - an expression of time and space through the abstract presentation of movement…[But] we must bear in mind that, when we consider the movement of form in space over a certain time, we are entering the realm of geometry and mathematics in the same way as when we construct a machine.” Geometry, movement, mathematics, Duchamp’s massive impact on art history includes profoundly anticipating digital generative art well.